Anesthesia Basics

There are different types of anesthesia. Local anesthesia is used for minor surgeries. For local anesthesia, the services are included in the CPT® code for the surgical encounter.

There are three types of anesthesia performed and billed by anesthesia providers. They are MAC, regional, and general.

1. MAC is monitored anesthesia care. For MAC, the patient has a decreased awareness and he or she cannot easily be aroused, but will respond to painful or repeated stimuli. The patient is not unconscious, and is able to control his own airway.
2. Regional anesthesia includes blocks, spinals, and epidurals.
3. General anesthesia is where the patient is unconscious and has no control of his or her airway.

John Verhovshek, MA, CPC, is Managing Editor at AAPC. He has covered medical coding and billing, healthcare policy, and the business of medicine since 1999. He is an alumnus of York College of Pennsylvania and Clemson University, and a member of the Asheville-Hendersonville AAPC Local Chapter.

John Verhovshek, MA, CPC, is Managing Editor at AAPC. He has covered medical coding and billing, healthcare policy, and the business of medicine since 1999. He is an alumnus of York College of Pennsylvania and Clemson University, and a member of the Asheville-Hendersonville AAPC Local Chapter.

One Response to “Anesthesia Basics”

I have been coding anesthesia since 2005 and it’s been pretty basic day to day surgical settings, like Inpatient/outpatient surgeries, really nothing out of the ordinary. One lung vent and post op pain blocks are the only deviation from the norm of day to day surgeries. I would love to add CANCP credentials to the one I currently hold; CPC through AAPC but don’t really know where to begin. I am also worried about having to obtain a whole different set of CEUs on top of what I already need to obtain for my CPC.
Can anyone give me an idea how I can get started or how I can at least check it out to see if it’s something I really want to do?